Bernie Sanders Campaign Pays Fine Over ‘Illegal’ Contribution From Foreign Political Party

Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign agreed to pay a $14,500 fine to the Federal Election Commission last month after the agency ruled the independent’s 2016 presidential campaign had accepted an illegal contribution from the Australian Labor Party.

The original complaint with the FEC was filed by New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien in March 2016 after the Australian volunteers were captured on video tearing down Trump campaign signs in New Hampshire.

The ALP agreed to pay a fine of the same amount and not to contest the FEC’s ruling that its $24,422 in flight and stipend costs was a “prohibited in-kind foreign contribution.”

Under U.S. campaign finance law, only American citizens are allowed to make contributions to political campaigns.

In a statement to the network on Wednesday, the Sanders campaign said it did not “agree that it broke any rules” but opted to pay the fine “in order to avoid a long and expensive fight with the FEC over the technical status of these young people.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), (L), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), introduce a joint resolution to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis in Yemen, on Capitol Hill February 28, 2018 in Washington, DC. Getty Images/Mark Wilson

"During the course of the campaign thousands and thousands of young people from every state and many other countries volunteered. Among them were seven Australian young people who were receiving a modest stipend and airfare from the Australian Labor Party so they could learn about American politics," the campaign said in a statement. "The folks on the campaign managing volunteers did not believe the stipend disqualified them from being volunteers."

Hoda Muthana's father, Ahmed Ali Muthana, filed the lawsuit in Washington D.C., and "seeks injunctive relief preventing the United States government from unconstitutionally robbing (Muthana and her son) of their rights as United States citizens."

"The ice doesn’t care what this administration thinks. It’s just going to keep melting," David Titley, the director of the Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk at Penn State, told Newsweek.